Friday morning saw a very chilly start to the British GP, with air temperatures hovering around 15c for FP1. This, paired with a new track surface which still contains many bumps, meant the riders had a lot to contend with in the morning session. Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins closed FP1 in 8th and 16th respectively.

FP2 carried possible significance for qualifying as it’s likely tomorrow’s FP3 could be too cold to see big improvements. Iannone and Rins were able to try a variety of different tyre options during the session and on the Italian’s final stint he was able to place himself into provisional Q2 with 9th place, +0.846 seconds from the top. Despite both riders improving their deficit compared to the morning, Rins struggled to climb the leaderboard in FP2 and he completed the afternoon in 19th place.

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“We were struggling today on this circuit. Andrea managed to finish in the Top 10, but we still have room to improve. Alex is struggling to find a way to go fast, and the wind is not helping, but it’s the same for everybody. We need to work a bit with the tyres and how to understand the best combination for the race. We’ll keep working and try to improve our pace tomorrow.”

Andrea Iannone
“For sure with the new asphalt the track seems more slippery and the situation is strange because we all expected better conditions. The bike moves a lot and it’s more bumpy. The feeling with the bike is not so bad but we are quite far from the top riders. We have to improve a lot, especially in braking and acceleration. In the first part of the braking we lose more than the others and this is where we’re losing the most time. Let's see if we are able to improve the set-up for tomorrow.”

Alex Rins
“It seems like it’s difficult for us here in Silverstone, but we are working to improve our lap time tomorrow, we need to improve a lot in some areas. But together we’re giving 100%, so we just need to improve. We need to stay positive and concentrate on the bike and the rhythm. I hope to get better as the weekend goes on and put in a good performance on Sunday.”